A late blooming bride & groom's roller-coaster ride to the altar.
Giant Dipper required, sold separately.

Monday, March 14

Save the Date!

The next post to follow would normally be the story about how Mr. PS and I met…but the final design of our Save the Date (STD) cards is finished. I’m so excited to share, we’ll rewind back to the beginning soon, I promise.

And now for the big reveal!

First, after scouring the internet through hundreds of different designs like this...

I changed my mind for a style that could incorporate one of our engagement photos. Hundreds of choices later, we decided to use a template from shutterfly.com. The design was 20% off, and I was able to apply another 20% coupon from an email promotion. I saved almost half off the original price and avoided countless hours of frustration printing these at home. Score!

[Quick public service announcement - many websites now offer online tools where you can customize the text and upload your photo to get a digital proof of the design before you order. As a visual person, the tool made me confident in my decision to purchase the order.]

Most couples would address the envelopes, add a stamp, and be done with it. Yet, here’s the point where reading one too many wedding blogs brought to my attention the idea of do-it-yourself. I'm not super creative, but I can be crafty with the right tools. First, I learned about a simple ‘corner rounding’ tool. It’s a punch that elegantly rounds the square corner of a piece of paper. Voila!

Then, after a sale waiting game for cardstock and scrapbook paper to go from 69 cents per sheet to 4 sheets for $1, it was time to roll up my sleeves and break out the paper slicer. Each sheet could make 4 mounting layers or 4 envelope liners. After all that cutting, I sandwiched half a business card magnet between the photo and pink cardstock layer. Trial, error and persistence paid off -- I thought I could cut the magnets into thirds, and divided a whole pack of 10 magnets. Oops! The card slid to the floor when I tried to put it on the fridge. In the words of Homer Simpson, 'Doh!'

Now our our guests can post it on the fridge as a reminder of our big day. The final touch to the card was a scratch-off sticker to incorporate an element of fun and surprise for the addressee!

We’re not quite finished yet, though. Cutting a pretty striped paper envelope liner using DIY instructions from the internet and double-sided tape as adhesive to the inside of a plain silver envelope, here’s what our guests can look forward to receiving:

There's something personally gratifying about this semi-DIY craft project. Now, I just have to repeat each step 140 times and mail by March 30…no problem!

What do you think about my final product? And what DIY elements did/will you incorporate for your Save the Dates?

About Me

Learning to embrace my true spirit as a GIRLY GIRL after previous careers in the Navy and consulting for the federal government. |
Favorite hobby, SLEEP. Dancing HULA is a close second. |
An INTROVERT in extrovert clothing, questing to UNDO 34 years of TYPE A conditioning. |
Constantly processing the details of our upcoming nuptials, peek into this LATE BLOOMING bride & groom's roller-coaster RIDE to the ALTAR. Giant Dipper required, sold separately.